A teenager was smoking naked while high on the drug LSD when he inadvertently set fire to an Albury flat on New Year’s Day.
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James McAllister-Barnard tried to put out the blaze caused by him flicking ash from a cigarette into a bin, Albury Local Court has heard.
But instead of pouring water onto the flames, the kitchen hand fanned the fire by throwing clothes and books into the bin.
The blaze caused $135,610 damage to the first-floor flat above Locky's Countryside Meats in Macaulay Street.
The diminutive McAllister-Barnard “freaked out” when the fire spread to his bedroom, the court was told.
He was so panicked by the billowing smoke that he made his second and final attempt to put out the fire – by turning on the water in his shower.
McAllister-Barnard struggled with an off-duty Victorian police officer who entered the flat in order to try to help him escape.
At one point he placed a cloth over the naked man “to preserve his dignity”.
But McAllister-Barnard was “clearly affected by a prohibited drug” and so struggled again with other emergency workers.
He had to be restrained by the wrists and ankles as he was taken away by paramedics.
McAllister-Barnard, who turned 19 the day before the fire, pleaded guilty to damage property by fire or explosion to a value greater than $15,000 and to self-administer or attempt to self-administer a prohibited drug.
Magistrate Tony Murray warned McAllister-Barnard that he was “at considerable risk” of going to jail given the substantial amount of damage to the property.
He ordered a pre-sentence report for sentencing on May 26.
Mr Murray was told in police facts that smoke was seen coming from the upstairs windows on January 1 about 12.10pm.
The off-duty policeman soon found McAllister-Barnard, who called out: “Help me, I’m dead.”
McAllister-Barnard was so drug-affected that he could not answer questions and was highly agitated.
This wore-off by 4.15pm and he later told police he had taken six 1mm strips of an LSD tab about 10am.